Brass Ring
by Miss Evil Muffins
Summary: "Kids aren't going to get themselves anywhere if they don't reach a little..."/ Tsumiki rides a carousel.
"I overheard Sonia-san inviting Tanaka-san to go and see a movie and, um, I saw you just sitting here by yourself in the library and I started worrying…I thought that maybe no has invited you anywhere yet and…and… P-please take this!" Tsumiki bowed her head, arms outstretched and shaking as she presented him with a trip-ticket.

Komaeda set down the book he had been reading, only to stare up at the girl, expression blank.

"I'm so sorry to bother you!" Tsumiki wailed after a few seconds had passed without any response. "I'm sure Nanami-san or Hinata-san invited you out already! Of course you'd rather go with them! I…I really don't blame you…"

Komaeda stood from his chair, waving his hands, clearly surprised that anyone would assume that he would have been invited anywhere until now. "Ah! No,no,no! Nanami-san and Hinata-kun are actually at the beach together right now. I definitely wasn't invited."

Though he accepted the ticket from her, Tsumiki couldn't help herself in continuing, "E-even if no one else invited you, I'm sure you'd rather keep reading. I shouldn't have interrupted when you were busy…"

She glanced at the cover of the book resting on the table, wondering for a brief moment if she could be considered one of Holden Caulfield's _'phonies'_.

"Tsumiki-san, I would be honored to spend the day with someone as talented as you."

After some discussion about where the two should go, they finally decided on the carousel at the theme park. It did seem like the safest option considering that Komaeda's luck cycle was surely due for a bout of bad luck any moment now, he insisted, considering how Tsumiki inviting him out was definitely 'good luck'. However, Tsumiki insisted that should one of them fall off a horse, she could easily patch them up.

"I-I used to patch myself up all the time, before we came to island. I'm sure falling off a carousel horse is no worse than being pushed down the stairs!"

Upon hearing that, there was no way anyone would be able to say no, Komaeda thought, deciding that he would do everything he could to keep her from coming to harm during their date. Not that he wasn't absolutely certain that she was capable of healing herself, but what if her being injured prevented her from attending to someone else who get might have an accident during the field-trip? If he wanted to see her preform her talent, he could certainly wait. Something was bound to happen to someone sooner or later; he was on the island with them with them, after all.

* * *

She was the soul rider of the candy-colored attraction; none of the other students had chosen to ride it at the moment. Komaeda wondered if it was another case of good luck, or just normal happen-stance. Lately he had been trying to convince himself that not everything that happened on the island came about because of him; he wasn't that important, and thinking that way all the time would only invalidate both the good and occasional negative effects that came of the others' performing their talents day to day, but at the same time, he found it difficult to believe the voice in the back of his head- after all, this was the same voice that had told him his parents would be coming back safe from their trip, the voice that had told him it would be safe to let his dog outside.

He had never seen Tsumiki look so tranquil before, as the blue horse she chosen gently bobbed up and down, salty sea breeze ruffling her hair in such a way that the choppy bits no longer showed, flowing in with the rest.

"Aren't you going to try to grab the brass ring?" he asked, watching her from behind the ticket gate, though there was no ticket-taker present.

"W-why?" Tsumiki asked, sitting more rigidly upon her horse, fearing she had gotten something wrong. "Am I supposed to? I'm sorry… I can't even ride a carousel properly, can I?"

Komaeda laughed. "It was in a book I was reading. Old-fashioned carousels used to have the ring game, but most modern ones don't anymore; they're probably afraid of kids falling off when they reach for them. ...To be honest, though, I think that kids aren't going to get themselves anywhere if they don't reach a little, but then again, it's not like I know all that much about what parents think…"

Tsumiki seemed to recall that chapter in the book now, if they were thinking of the same one. "Oh… I've never been to a carousel before, so I…I was worried that maybe they all had the game and I was just being stupid again…"

"It's such an old fashioned thing; I'm sure a lot of people don't know about the rings. I just read too much. Are you enjoying it, though? Riding the carousel, I mean."

"Oh!" Tsumiki's face lit up in surprise. Not only had he accepted her invitation, but Komaeda also cared what she thought. What an incredible day, she thought, and they had only just arrived at the park. "It's wonderful! They way it goes up and down so gently, it's like that floaty feeling you get in your head when someone hits you really hard, only nothing hurts!"

"I'm glad," he smiled.

Some time passed...or perhaps not. It was hard to keep track. It would seem that the carousel was set to run indefinitely until someone got off of it, no operator or tickets needed.

"Um… Don't you want to take a ride?" Tsumiki asked cautiously.

"I'm fine over here," he tried to assure her. "I had a big lunch."

In reality, he had only eaten a few nibbles of toast. He loved carousels, he always had. Some of the best memories he had of his parents were the times they had taken him to ride one. Tsumiki was having such a wonderful time; who was he to spoil it for her? She was better off with him staying right where he was. Besides, it wasn't as if he wasn't still enjoying himself. Watching the usually fretful nurse relax and smile was nothing short of a treat. It was no wonder that patients would feel at ease under her care, if she would smile that way for them too.

Tsumiki soon piped up again, "S-should I play the ring game, do you think? Would that be alright?"

"Of course! …Though, I'm not sure what the prize would be; there's no attendant to give it to, when you do get the brass ring. Maybe Usami would have something, if you gave it to her?" he mused.

After waiting through one more revolution, Tsumiki outstretched her arm toward the ring dispenser, leaning as far as she could, before the smooth metal of the horse's painted saddle began to slip away from underneath her, the ground and the fence rushing toward her.

She closed her eyes, bracing herself. However, what she fell onto was soft, and warm, wrapping around her.

Tsumiki opened her eyes.

Komaeda, expecting this might happen, had hopped the fence, safely cushioning her fall.

His eyes widened as she looked up into his face. It would seem that he surprised himself, catching her in time.

She pushed the ring into his hand; she had managed to catch one after all.

"I…I won!"

 _The end_


End file.
